Paul Payne
Summer is normally time for fun on the waters of Lake Chickamauga. But this week, there will also be plenty of action along the shores near Harrison Bay.
Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, will once again take center stage for a Tennessee Golf Association event when the 54th Tennessee Men’s Four-Ball Championship is conducted.
It will be the first TGA championship hosted at Bear Trace since the 2019 Match Play Championship. The state-owned facility was also home to both the State Men’s Match Play and State Senior Match Play tournaments in 2016.
The tournament opens on Tuesday with two days of 18-hole stroke play qualifying, after which the field will be cut to the low 16 teams advancing to match play. The Round of 16 and quarterfinals will be on Thursday, with the semifinals and finals taking place on Friday. The par 72 layout is expected to play at 7,111 yards.
Whit Turnbow and Payne Denman are defending champions, winning 4&3 over Jet Tickle and Chase Roswall of Bristol last year at Nashville Golf & Athletic Club.
Turnbow, the current president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation, served as Denman’s coach during his time at Middle Tennessee State University. Denman, now an assistant coach for the Blue Raider golf team, will be competing in the U.S. Amateur later this summer at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National Golf Club by virtue of winning the Tennessee State Amateur in June.
Turnbow (2005) and Denman (2014) had previously won this tournament with different playing partners. Meanwhile, the Knoxville tandem of Ryan Greer and Jack Smith are seeking their third championship in the tournament, having teamed to capture the 2021 and 2016 titles.
Chattanooga area golfers will be aplenty in the competition. Council Fire Club will be represented by the formidable pairing of Griffin Law and Tucker Wick – teammates at East Hamilton High School – while the father-son duo of Jeff and Gavin Greeson will also give it a go. Also from Council Fire are Cory Gaylord and Rusty Johnson, Brendon Wilson (paired with Lawrenceburg’s Corey Rochelle) and MTSU golfer Sheldon McKnight (teaming with U.S. Amateur qualifier J.J. Zimmer of Humbolt).
Cleveland Country Club will have a large contingent as well. Ian Kinsey and Cody Skipper will form a team, as well as John Thomas McKenzie/Jonas Rayfield, Dylan Lillard/Drew Linkous and Josh Coley/Neil Scott. In a pairing of former Lee University teammates, CCC’s Sidney Melvin will team with WindStone Golf Club’s Bennett McNabb.
Cleveland will also be represented by Brandon Cissom of Flagstone Golf Course joining CCC’s Hunter Vest, while a duo from Riceville – Rick Mays of CCC and Wes Farris of Tennessee National – are also among the entrants.
Representing The Ooltewah Club are Matthew Metaxas/Richard Spangler, while Keoni Vidrine is paired with Flagstone’s Steven Locke and Tripp Hall will compete with teammate Matthew Rothwell of Pikeville.
The host Bear Trace has the tandem of Matt Crowder/David Watts in the mix, along with Dalton Sutton playing with partner Isaac Meador of Lafayette.
Other locals are former Baylor School golfer Haden Maxwell pairing with Tennessee Tech teammate Mark McDearman, Valleybrook’s William Greer teaming with Murfreesboro’s Brian Seagraves, Black Creek Club’s Nathan Frazier joining ranks with Soddy-Daisy’s Ramsey Kimbrough, and recently graduated University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer John Houk combining with Tennessee Wesleyan’s Josh Loveday.
For the complete listing of pairing, go to State Four-Ball Pairings.
Whitfield Competing at U.S. Junior Amateur: While disappointed that his score of 2-over par 74 last week was four shots clear of earning one of the 12 spots awarded in the U.S. Amateur final qualifier in Missouri, Thad Whitfield has another big event on tap starting Monday.
The future MTSU golfer and recent McCallie School graduate is headed to historic Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. for the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. The field of 264 golfers between ages 13 to 18 represents 40 states and 36 countries.
The format will consist of 18 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, with the top 64 finishers moving into match play competition for four days concluding with a 36-hole championship match on Saturday. Whitfield is slated to begin his opening round Monday at 2:05 p.m.
The Signal Mountain resident is one of 31 entrants making a repeat appearance from last year, and is one of four Tennesseans in the tournament. Other Volunteer State participants include:
Nashville’s Blades Brown, who made the cut and finished tied for 26th in his PGA Tour debut at the Myrtle Beach Classic in May. A member of the U.S. National Junior Team, Brown reached the finals of the 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball with his partner Jackson Herrington and reached the Round of 32 in the 2023 U.S. Amateur after surpassing Bobby Jones as the youngest stroke-play co-medalist in the championship’s history; Christian Pardue of Arlington, an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee; and Maddox Crowder of Lafayette, who earned an exemption by virtue of his playoff win over McCallie’s Billy Boroughs in the rain-shortened Tennessee Junor Amateur last month.
UTC Golfers Shine at Porter Cup: UTC rising senior Garrett Engle continued his stellar play this summer, finishing tied for second on Saturday in the prestigious Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club in New York.
Engle, a native of Harrisburg, Pa., put together four rounds below par to finish at 10-under 270, one shot behind winner Chase Nevins in the event considered one of the top amateur tournaments in the nation that dates back to 1959.
Engle’s teammate with the Mocs, former Baylor School product Dalton Chuba, finished T23 with a final tally of 1-over 281. Braedon Wear posted a total of 3-over 283 (T33), while Nick Etherton closed at 16-over 296 (T58).
Future Mocs Golfer Arrives for Woodruffs: UTC men’s golf coach Blaine Woodruff has garnered the first commitment for his 2042 recruiting class as he and his wife, Katie, welcomed the arrival of their son Maverick Joseph Woodruff last Monday.
This is particularly meaningful for the Woodruffs after losing a daughter, Riley Grace, shortly before her expected delivery in March 2023 (see full story at Remembering Riley Grace). The couple was very transparent with their grief, healing and journey of faith throughout their time of loss, making Maverick’s birth a cause for greater celebration.
Weathers Joins List of Repeat Winners in Men’s Metro: By virtue of winning the Chattanooga Men’s Metro at Lookout Mountain Club last weekend, Andrew Weathers joins an elite list of two-time champions in the Regular Division.
A pair of Chattanooga golf legends, Ed Brantly and Lew Oehmig, each won seven Metro championships, just ahead of the six won by Polly Boyd, who claimed the title in the inaugural event in 1929.
Pat Corey owns four Metro titles, followed by five golfers with three – Andrew Black, Harold Lane, Ira Templeton, Wesley Brown and Willard Miller.
Weathers becomes the eighth golfer to capture two championships, joining Neil Spitalny, who also leads the roster of Metro Senior winners with four titles.
CDGA Four-Ball Match Play Ongoing: The Chattanooga District Golf Association’s Four-Ball Match Play competition is ongoing in both the Regular and Senior Divisions. The Regular quarterfinals and Senior semifinals will be Aug. 17 at Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, followed the next day by the Senior finals and the Regular semifinal and championship matches.
The Senior quarterfinal matches will feature:
Tim Burns/Stewart Lawwill (bye) vs. Jeff Cox/Zack Coley (1-up winners over Johnny Pierce/Alex Bivens)
Gary Davis/Joe Markham Jr. (5&4 winners over Oscar Scruggs/Rick Eberle) vs. Todd Fuhs/Harry Hill (3&1 winners over Pat Corey/Jim Ferguson)
Neil Spitalny/Tom Baird (bye) vs. Chris Maclellan/Zeb Patten (5&4 winners over Bret Douglas/Jeff Sherrill)
Steve Johnson/Ricky Taliaferro (bye) vs. Jerry Burrell/David Moss (2&1 winners over Joe Brown/Frank Hollowell).
Three of the eighth quarterfinal spots have been secured in the Regular division by the following teams: Brandon Cissom/Steven Locke, Rusty Johnson/Cory Gaylord and Josh Ernest/Hunter Garrett.
Fairfield Glade to Host the Tennessee Women’s Open: For the 16th straight year, the Tennessee Women’s Open will be hosted at Stonehenge Golf Club in Fairfield Glade slated this Thursday thru Saturday.
Started in 1999, the event is one of the longest-running women’s Open tournaments in the country. The 54-hole event is split into two divisions, the Championship Division, and the Senior Division.
Past winners include current LPGA Professionals Ashli Bunch, Lauren Coughlin and Karlin Beck as well as some of the top amateur golfers in the world like Tennessee Players of the Year Sophie Linder and Lynn Lim, the defending champion at the Tennessee Women’s Open. Lim’s win in 2023 made her just the fourth player in Tennessee golf history to win the Tennessee Women’s Open and Tennessee Women’s Amateur in the same year.
Participants with local connections include Kerigan Klauber and Hannah Nall of Cleveland Country Club, Cora Mount of WindStone Golf Club and former UTC golfer Jordan Britt.
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Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com
Bear Trace at Harrison Bay will host the Tennessee Men's Four-Ball Championship this week